NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release
5/14/2005

ISA names 2005 Value-Added Partner Award winners

The association also recognizes the Value-Added Distributor, Value-Added Manufacturer and two American Eagle Corporate Citizenship Award winners.

(5/14/2005) -- The Industrial Supply Association (ISA) announced the winners of its new American Eagle Value-Added Partner Award during ISCON 2005 in Toronto, Ontario, on May 14. The award was created to recognize the efforts of a manufacturer and distributor working together to add value to their end-user customers. Winners of the 2005 award were manufacturer Carbide Tool Services of Anoka, Minn., and distributor Sterling Supply Company of Huntington, W. Va.

“We’re pleased to name Carbide Tool Services and Sterling Supply Company winners of our newly revamped American Eagle Value-Added Partner Award,” said Kathleen Durbin of General Industrial Tool & Supply in Los Angeles, chairperson of ISA’s Partnership Enhancement and Awards Committee. “We created this prestigious award to recognize a manufacturer and distributor for working together to add value to their end-user customer. The award acknowledges true partnership between channel partners and best exemplifies the goals that our association strives to achieve.”

In order to win the award, applicants were required to demonstrate exceptional documented cost savings or productivity improvements based on a single event or an annual program conducted with a channel partner. Carbide Tool Services and Sterling Supply Co. implemented a cutting tool repair program for Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia that saved the customer more than $70,000 annually in new tooling costs in 2004 and projected savings of $200,000 for 2005.

Every week, Sterling Supply picks up damaged tooling from collection bins located throughout Toyota’s facility and ships them to Carbide Tool for evaluation and repair. CTS repairs the items and ships them back to West Virginia so Sterling on-site personnel can scan the tools and return them to Toyota’s tool crib or production line. The transaction is billed electronically, eliminating time-consuming paperwork. Cost Savings Reports are tracked and reported to Toyota quarterly.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by our peers in the industry for the hard work that our two companies have done over the years to develop this program,” said Julie Reiling, president of Carbide Tool Services. “We have a close partnership with Sterling Supply, including their inside and outside sales staff. We certainly could not provide this service from Minnesota without Sterling Supply. They help us deliver value to the end-user. It’s an example of true cooperation between channel partners.”

“We have a number of very good relationships with key vendors. Carbide Tool is special because the way we have worked so well together on this project,” said John Zitter, president of Sterling Supply. “Julie and her team are 100 percent committed to this program. We can get anything we need from them, they provide very quick turnaround, the quality is excellent and deliveries are right on time. For this customer that is especially important.”

Click here to read "Value-Added Partners," a story detailing the methods these two companies used to cut costs and add value.

Additional awards announced

Quality Mill Supply of Franklin, Ind., was named recipient of the 2005 American Eagle Value-Added Distributor Award in recognition of its program to help salespeople work more closely with premier vendors in order to generate cost savings for customers. Weiler Corporation of Cresco, Pa., received the 2005 American Eagle Value-Added Manufacturer Award for its effort to design a new product for an end-user’s application and, using the Weiler Analysis Report, document more than $300,000 in labor savings.

“Selecting winners of the American Eagle Value-Added Awards was difficult because there were so many good entries this year,” said Charlie Day of Even Cut Abrasive Company in Cleveland, vice chairman of the ISA Partnership Enhancement and Awards Committee. “Quality Mill Supply and Weiler Corporation especially deserve recognition because of their efforts to involve channel partners in their activities and because they continually strive to bring value-added solutions and hard cost savings to their end-user customers.”

The association also named a manufacturer and distributor winner of the American Eagle Corporate Citizenship Award. The distributor award was given to Empire Machinery & Supply Corporation in Norfolk, Va., in recognition of its ongoing support of local charities and educational organizations. The company donates 5 percent of its annual pre-tax profits to local charities and encourages its management team and employees to be active in community organizations.

The manufacturer award went to Precision Brand Products of Downers Grove, Ill., which achieved 100 percent employee involvement in Team Precision Care, the company’s charitable arm. Precision Brand employees donate time and money to numerous local organizations and charitable groups.

As part of its effort to encourage, support and educate members on creating value-added opportunities, ISA also maintains the Web site www.ValueAddedPartners.org.